MUSTARD-SEED FUNGUS 
This disease will also. appear in damp warm weather. Leaves close to the ground will be 
affected—these should be removed being careful that none of the spores, in the form of small 
“mustard seeds”, drop to the soil or on other plants. Affected parts should then be washed, and 
soil around them, treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. 
SCORCH 
Little is known of this disease or its cure. Plants turn brown or yellow and the rhizome ' 
loses its roots yet stays firm. We have heard of some success just lifting the plants and exposing 
them to sunlight for several days or even weeks. Last year I treated two rhizomes, sent to me, 
with lysol solution, drying them, dipping again, drying for several days in shade then planting, 
and evidently the plants are growing and appear to be quite healthy. Another fancier reports 
success dusting with fermate. Sir Cedric Morris of England has experimented with solutions of 
Sulphathiazole with apparent success. Any cure learned of through experimentation should be 
reported to the scientific committee of the A.I.S. or to the Editor of the bulletin. 
IRIS BORER 
This dread worry has long harassed some sections of the country, yet with the advent of 
D.D.T. (Wettable) one need not fret over this plague. Only one thing is essential—early application 
of the D.D.T. spray and faithful application of the spray every 10 days up to the time the iris 
bloom, for it is in the very early spring this Moth’s larva hatch and crawl up to the iris leaves to 
start chewing their way down into the fans and finally into the rhizomes. Isabelle Bowen Hen- 
derson of North Carolina gives a good formula in bulletin No. 120 (Jan., 1951, page 46)—a mixture 
spray of D.D.T., fermate and Nicotine Sulphate that will control iris borer as well as thrip and 
other “bugs” that might attack leaves or pods. It is as follows: 
3 Gallons Water 6 Level Tablespoons 50% Wettable D.D.T. 
2 Level Tablespoons Dupont Spreader Sticker 3 Level Tablespoons Fermate 
1¥2 Level Tablespoons Nicotine Sulphate. 
The D.D.T. will have to be dissolved in water before adding to the mixture. Use in any type 
spray that will handle a suspended mixture. 
Other diseases and pests will not be touched upon since the foregoing seem to be the most 
prevalent “ailments”. 
FOOD AND FERTILIZERS 
Soils never having grown iris will, in all likelihood, need little added to them to “boost’’ the 
plants for the first year or two, however, since the majority of iris fanciers live within the confines 
of one spot it becomes a problem to make sure iheir plants receive the elements necessary to 
health and fine bloom. I am not expert on soils and fertilizers, so can offer very little advice other 
than some few points known, generally, to the average gardener. Soils differ in their makeup— 
some are sandy and certain elements soon leach out, while other soils are heavy in clay with 
rather poor drainage. It is advisable, very often, io bring in loads of soil or sand to counteract 
these conditions. Other soils are rich in humus (fiberous material that nature supplies to the 
soil from plants: leaves and stalks that have lived and fallen in their season). We modern 
gardeners are often wasteful of vegetation—weeds, leaves, vegetables, etc., burning or throwing 
them away, yet we should, if possible, make compost heaps, or pits, and return these valuable 
elements to the soil for they have in them minerals and water-holding qualities necessary to 
fine soil that encourages the lowly earthworm and hundreds of kinds of beneficial soil bacteria. 
When we use barnyard fertilizers we are adding, of course, this very essential humus to the 
soil, as well as other elements high in fertility values to our plants. It is not always possible 
for “city gardeners” to obtain animal manures for their gardens, and if available they may seem 
costly. The best time to apply them, however, would be in the fall before snow flies, or worked 
well into the soil some time before planting is to be started—keeping the soil well worked and 
watered so as to allow the bacteria, worms, etc., to prepare the soil to an ideal condition before 
planting. My grandmother used to tell me that a good hoeing was as valuable as a feeding of 
fertilizer. Her garden was proof of this, and that she practiced what she “‘preached’’ was evidenced 
by the worn condition of the many hoes she had in the tool shed. We can employ the use of com- 
mercial fertilizers, well and wisely, and might consider, even, some trace elements in certain 
localities. Here in Utah, for instance, we live in a natural lime-stone area and additions of lime, 
or bonemeal, is hardly an essential to growing bearded iris, and it almost excludes the growth 
of acid-loving species. In some places lime and bonemeal are essential elements to add to the 
soils to insure healthy plants. So one must know something of the soils in his locality. An early 
spring feeding of super-phosphate will help to boost plants and produce better stalks, larger flowers 
and improve color, yet one must use care and skill in their application and give plenty of water 
together with them. It would be ideal if all iris growers could rotate their plantings so that iris 
need not be grown on the same ground more than two years (the time required, usually, to produce 
typical bloom on most varieties) being sure not to grow heavy root-type plants in the soil for 
another year or two, but most fanciers are not so fortunate. Very often, however, it is possible for 
the fancier on a small plot to dig out a clump—to remove the old soil under the plant and to replace 
it with new soil hauled in or conditioned for that purpose before another plant is started in the 
some location. Some fanciers save all the wood ashes they can get hold of to put under new 
34 
